


Day 29 - Reluctant Bedrest (28.2)

by fanfictiongreenirises



Series: Whumptober 2020 [29]
Category: DCU (Comics), Nightwing (Comics)
Genre: Aftermath of a Case, Don't copy to another site, Gen, Hospitals, Hurt Dick Grayson, Hurt/Comfort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-29
Updated: 2020-10-29
Packaged: 2021-03-08 19:01:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,633
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27261664
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fanfictiongreenirises/pseuds/fanfictiongreenirises
Summary: Dick wakes up in the hospital. Things are hazy.No 29. I THINK I NEED A DOCTORIntubation | Emergency Room |Reluctant Bedrest
Relationships: Dick Grayson & Bruce Wayne, Dick Grayson & Jason Todd
Series: Whumptober 2020 [29]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1947217
Comments: 25
Kudos: 236





	Day 29 - Reluctant Bedrest (28.2)

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I don't own DC
> 
> I feel like this is just. very typically _me_ in terms of a thrilling sequel lmao. Anyway, hope you all enjoy ^~^

THIS FANFICTION IS HOSTED ON **ARCHIVE OF OUR OWN** , WHERE YOU CAN READ IT FOR **FREE**. IF YOU’RE READING THIS ON A DIFFERENT WEBSITE, IT WAS POSTED THERE **WITHOUT** THE AUTHOR’S CONSENT.

“Sir? Sir. Please calm down. You’ve lost too much blood…”

The nurse’s voice was the first thing that Dick remembered hearing when he came to. He was surrounded by whiteness everywhere, and the overwhelming stench of bleach and that familiar but dreaded antiseptic. Rhat was how he knew that he was in a hospital.

Dick struggled to sit up, only to find that his arms had absolutely no strength.

“Where am I?” he got out, though he didn’t know how coherent he sounded. Everything felt just a little too bright to be real; he was floating on a fair number of clouds, and Dick knew he from experience that he wouldn’t like it when he came down.

“You’re at the Landy Hospital,” the nurse informed him. “Opal City.”

Dick’s eyes widened, but through the haze of drugs in his system, he could only feel the faintest smidgens of shock. Opal City was about five hours away from Gotham, and six from New York where he’d been kidnapped from.

“Sir, can you give me your name, please? Or the number of your emergency contact?”

But Dick was already out, lost to the haze of the drugs that were coursing through his system. He wouldn’t remember her words, or even the fact that he’d woken up at all. When he regained consciousness the next time, he would again thrash and struggle, and the same nurse – or a different one; what did it matter to Dick? – would repeat the same thing.

* * *

Time was hazy. Dick woke at various points in the night, completely drenched in sweat and unable to get back to sleep because of how his leg throbbed. He tossed as much as he could on the hospital bed. There were straps holding his arms down, and that made it all the more impossible.

There were countless IV lines attached to him – he was being kept on a strict diet until his nutrition levels reached a somewhat more normal level. Dick’s wasn’t a particularly picky eater, but the food he was given was tasteless mush, with texture that made him gag, so he proceeded to try and swallow it straight.

He’d apparently been found on the outskirts of town by a farmer and her husband, unconscious in the truck by the side of the road. Dick hadn’t been able to find a phone in the car, and just drove as fast as he could towards the nearest small city.

The first time he’d woken up, Dick had been frantic, thrashing. Apparently, the fever had addled his mind more than just a bit. It was about another three or four days until he’d woken up and been aware of his surroundings properly.

The police came at some point and asked him all sorts of questions. It was _strange_ , being on this side of the crime. Being a witness was pretty common in Gotham, but being one of the victims and having to give a statement was something he couldn’t remember doing since graduating from high school.

That was the same day that Dick was conscious enough to give information about his emergency contacts, provide his insurance details. They finally put his real name to his medical records, replacing the ‘John Doe’.

* * *

“Dick?”

Dick’s head shot up at the sound of a familiar voice, after so very long. It’d been almost a month since he’d heard someone speak his name, and actually _know_ him. To his horror, his eyes welled up slightly. Dick blinked rapidly to get rid of it.

“Jay,” he said, a wobbly smile on his face. “Took your time.”

Jason had darted to his bed the moment he’d heard Dick speak. Dick saw the way Jason’s eyes widened a little as he took in the state of Dick’s body, how thin he still was, the bandages around his leg.

“Fuck, Goldie, they really did a number on you,” he said. And in that moment, Dick saw behind the leather jacket and the white stripe of hair, and caught the same look on Jason’s face as when he’d been Robin and had seen Dick injured in some way or another. “What happened?”

Dick forced himself to smile. “Worse than it looks,” he said. “And I’ll fill you in later. Come on, I’m ready to blow this joint.”

He struggled to sit up, and fell backwards immediately when Jason poked him in the shoulder. Dick received a glare rivalled only by Alfred as Jason said, “Are you kidding? You’re staying here till they say you’re good to go. Or least till you quit looking like a rough breeze’ll knock you right over.”

Dick gave him an incredulous look. “Are _you_ kidding?” he said.

That was when another figure appeared at the door, and this time Dick squeezed his eyes shut and resisted the urge to groan. Trust Jason to involve _Bruce_ in this as well, when they’d both agreed that it was something that they could handle themselves.

He glared at Jason, but Jason studiously avoided his gaze as Bruce approached the bed.

“Dick,” Bruce said. His hands twitched, as though unsure about where they should go. In the end, they settled for grabbing Dick’s chart. “How’re you doing?”

“Pretty good, considering,” Dick said tiredly. “What’re you doing here?”

Bruce gave him a _look_ , from over the clipboard. “You’ve been missing for about three weeks,” he said. His jaw clenched and unclenched as he took another breath. “Your trackers went offline almost immediately, as well.”

Dick grimaced. “Yeah,” he said, this time looking to Jason. “Dunno what happened with the one in my arm, but the others they went through and took, or broke at some point in the kidnapping.”

Jason looked away again. Dick hated that, hated the way he always questioned whether this would be it, whether this would be the thing that made Jason stay away for another few months. Walking around eggshells around his brother when he barely even understood the landmines that he needed to be watching out for was exhausting, and he really wasn’t in the mood for it now.

“B,” he said. “Could you grab me real food from the cafeteria?” Dick knew that if he gave Bruce a pleading look, Bruce would cave. Bruce had always caved. “Doesn’t have to be anything big – just like a cupcake or something. Just nothing with meat in it. I haven’t had real food in like a _month_.”

It worked, because Bruce squeezed his hang tightly and then glanced at the charts, probably to get a better idea of what Dick _really_ shouldn’t have, and then he disappeared.

“You realise you could’ve just asked him to go stand outside for a bit, right?” Jason said. He’d gone to stand by the window.

Dick huffed. “Trust me, this is a lot faster than that would’ve been,” he told him. “Bruce asks way too many questions. And he would’ve probably eavesdropped the entire time.”

Jason snorted. “So,” he said. “Get it over with. You’re pissed I brought B into this.” And then his eyes flashed a little – in better light, Dick would’ve sworn they went green for a moment. “But you were fucking _gone_ , you asshole. You were supposed to check in with the tracker in the first three days, and there was _nothing_. And then you missed seven day check-in as well. What was I _supposed_ to do?”

Dick sighed. “I’m not pissed,” he said tiredly. “I get it. And we probably should’ve had Bruce in on the whole thing from the start. _He’s_ probably mad as well.”

His reasons for not including Batman in their investigation had been _childish_ , quite frankly. Dick hadn’t even brought it up – Jason and his paths had crossed when they’d been looking into missing persons, and when it’d become a lot bigger than either of them had expected, he still hadn’t suggested bringing Bruce into the fray. He hadn’t wanted to risk losing the camaraderie he’d developed with Jason over the duration of the search.

In fact, it’d been _Jason_ who’d hinted at the rest of the Bats, and Dick had neatly sidestepped the question.

Jason now looked at him, head tilted a little. It was another one of those mannerisms that took Dick right back to his late teen years. “You two fighting again?” he asked, a little exasperatedly.

Dick huffed a breath. “No,” he said. “But it’s still a stupid reason.”

He shook his head a little, resisting the urge to rest it against the pillow because he knew that if he did that, he’d be out before Bruce got back. And he hadn’t been kidding about wanting a cupcake.

“Your fights are always stupid.”

Dick, in a moment of maturity, stuck his tongue out at Jason. “I don’t blame you for going to Bruce,” he said. “If anything, it’s my fault for ignoring you when you wanted to at least get Tim involved.”

“Yeah, that was pretty dumb of you,” Jason said, coming to sit in the plastic chair placed beside Dick’s bed, and that was when Dick relaxed, knowing that Jason was going to stick around for a little while, at least. “You owe me, though. I was stuck on a two-hour flight with him, and he’s even _worse_ when he’s worried. Plus he’s been pissed ever since I told him.”

Dick huffed a weak imitation of a laugh that transformed itself into a yawn without his consent, and Jason frowned immediately.

“Sleep, idiot,” he said. “I half promise not to eat your cupcake.”

“The hell is a ‘half promise’?” Dick said, but he was out before he got an answer.

**Author's Note:**

> Opal City is a real city in the comics, but I lowkey have no idea how far it actually is from Gotham.
> 
> Thanks for reading!!


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